Telemedicine is a top priority for healthcare providers. The world of medicine is going digital. The value of digital solutions in the United States healthcare system is projected to grow by 26% by 2024.
CareCloud offers many telemedicine services patients and providers want, like HIPAA-compliant video visits, an online scheduling tool, and integration with its electronic health record (EHR). But, there are features CareCloud does not have that are becoming more and more necessary to a successful telemedicine practice and maintaining patient satisfaction.
But, Curogram does offer everything medical practice’s need in a telemedicine solution, such as 2-way texting, and it integrates easily with CareCloud’s EHR.
Why does a medical practice’s need texting as a telemedicine feature?
Text messaging (SMS) is the most sought-after telemedicine feature by patients who want to communicate with healthcare providers easily and quickly.
But, SMS messaging isn’t a HIPAA compliant communication method by default. Healthcare providers cannot send a patient’s protected health information (PHI) via text — it’s a potential violation of HIPAA rules and regulations, resulting in a fine or criminal charges.
Curogram has a secure 2-way text messaging system that you can integrate with CareCloud’s EHR.
When using Curogram’s secure texting platform, healthcare providers don’t disclose patient data via text directly. They send a link to a secure document instead. Only the patient that receives the text may access this document, which keeps the message HIPAA compliant.
Providers can also complete tasks such as onboarding patients, sending patient intake forms, and payment links with Curogram’s texting feature.
Plus, patients can receive appointment reminders via text.
Many patients often miss their scheduled appointments. It’s a common occurrence that costs healthcare providers; the United States healthcare system loses over $150 billion every year due to patient no-shows.
Curogram sends text appointment reminders to remind patients about scheduled virtual and in-person appointments, and the system is able to differentiate between the two types of appointments. You can send patients multiple reminders and customize them for different appointments via secure SMS.
Our platform includes unlimited direct messaging, group chat, and office-to-office messaging. You can communicate with your internal team to reduce wasted time on the phone and running between offices. Set up group chats to discuss a specific recurring topic, collaborate on a new project, or connect with a team.
After integration, Curogram will generate a local business number that you can connect with your Google Business profile. This way, patients will be able to text your clinic immediately after finding it online.
Texting isn’t the only unique and desired telemedicine feature Curogram integration with CareCloud provides.
What other telemedicine features does Curogram offer when used with CareCloud?
Curogram offers comprehensive features that can help your practice excel with CareCloud. These notable features include:
- HIPAA secure staff communication
- Online scheduling/rescheduling for patients
- Pre and post procedure engagement
- Virtual waiting room
- Survey and ratings request
- Reputation management
These unique telemedicine features can be pivotal especially when a medical provider needs broader telemedicine solutions. As important as these features are, basic telemedicine features are also significant to have a seamless telehealth service.
Schedule Appointments More Easily
Scheduling appointments can be an arduous and time-consuming task for front desk staff. When a patient calls to set up a doctor’s appointment, it can take several minutes of back-and-forth discussion before a date is set. While it doesn’t take long to schedule one appointment, front desk staff must repeat this process dozens of times per day, which adds up quickly.
Instead of burdening clinic staff with appointment scheduling, you can let patients take care of it on their own. Text patients a link to Curogram’s smart schedule, and they can start setting up appointments.
They can check out the available time slots through the link and choose one that suits them. Once they’ve chosen a date, the data is sent to your EHR immediately. There’s no need for front desk staff to get involved, and the patient can show up for their appointment as usual.
Cut Back on Clinic Paperwork
There are numerous drawbacks to using paper patient intake forms:
- Paper forms take up space in the clinic
- Patients must be present at the clinic to fill them out
- Staff must transcribe data from the forms into the clinic’s EHR
- Patients often have illegible handwriting, which makes transcription impossible
With Curogram’s electronic patient intake forms, you can avoid all of these issues and streamline data collection.
Before an appointment, you can send patients a link to an electronic form that they can fill out on their phones or desktop computers. There’s no paperwork involved, and the data they submit is uploaded to your EHR automatically. Clinic staff won’t have to spend hours transcribing paper forms, and they can use that time to provide care to patients.
Admit Patients to a Virtual Waiting Room
When implementing telemedicine features such as virtual appointments, you have to make sure that staff can adapt to a change of setting in the workplace. They may find it difficult to route patients to the correct staff member when setting up appointments.
Curogram’s virtual waiting room feature can help replicate the flow of a real clinic and make it easier to admit patients. You can configure the waiting room so that there are no mix-ups when sending patients to a virtual appointment.
Before a patient can meet with their physician, they have to provide their information to front desk staff. You can set the waiting room view so that only the front desk staff can view the patient once they join the room. This way, doctors don’t have to waste time on patient check-ins and can jump in and out of video calls quickly and work much more efficiently.
Improve Team Coordination
Communication between staff members is crucial for proper patient care. Healthcare is a coordinated effort, and staff needs to be able to share ideas and discuss patient treatments in a secure setting.
With Curogram, you can enable HIPAA compliant texting between staff members and make the process more convenient. Instead of paging one another and running from one area to another, staff can communicate with SMS messages securely.
It’s possible to set up group chats and invite different team members to discuss important patient issues without breaking HIPAA rules.
What features does Curogram have that every virtual health practice needs?
The basic features that every medical practice needs in telemedicine is offered by Curogram. These innovative features can greatly enhance your practice’s services and help your practice improve patient outcomes.
- 2-way communication
- Online payments
- EHR integration
- Electronic patient forms
- Scheduling appointments on and offline
- Providing care to patients
- Virtual visits
- Sending visit summaries
With an integrated solution, you can reach a larger number of patients more easily. With less administrative work on their hands, your medical staff can admit your patients and provide them with better care.
How fast can you integrate the CareCloud EHR with Curogram for telemedicine?
Implementing a telemedicine solution can be a costly and time-consuming endeavor if you choose the wrong one. And with the growth of telemedicine, you want to have virtual care options available as soon as possible.
Curogram integrates with CareCloud in 48 hours or less. It connects with your patient database of record and schedule of record to simplify many clinic tasks and you can start using all of its telemedicine features after a very quick tutorial.
What are the benefits of integrating telemedicine software?
An integrated telemedicine solution like Curogram creates a more productive office environment. Here are the most notable benefits of telemedicine integration:
Streamline Workflow in Your Clinic
Telemedicine features like electronic intake forms that upload automatically to CareCloud’s EHR and online scheduling can help cut down on the amount of administrative work.
Digital health records also make it easier for authorized personnel to manage and share patient information across multiple locations.
Record Patient Health Data Accurately
Curogram improves data collection accuracy by eliminating human error. Electronic patient intake forms do not require manual input. Patients complete the process using their device and send them back the files back to the office for the EHR to upload automatically. As long as the patient provides correct information, the data is recorded accurately.
Increase the Number of Patients You Can Admit
Eliminating administrative tasks makes it easier to admit a larger number of patients because of the time saved by staff. Additionally, virtual waiting rooms make remote care easier to manage, as patients can wait anywhere they are whether they are at home or in their car. Virtual waiting rooms can increase efficiency as it provides better wait-time experience, gives more privacy, and reduces the chance of patient no-shows.
What are the essential telemedicine features?
Many telemedicine solutions lack critical features. If you implement a program that only offers virtual appointments, how will staff handle scheduling, admitting patients, and sending visit summaries? For healthcare providers that use programs like Zoom and Skype, these tasks can become challenging.
Combining multiple apps or programs won’t improve the situation. If they don’t integrate with the clinic’s EHR, staff will have to deal with manual, double data entry.
For this reason, it’s crucial that healthcare providers choose an integrated solution that offers all of the following telemedicine features:
Simplify Scheduling & Rescheduling
Physicians spend a lot of time setting up appointments. They have to go back and forth with patients on the phone before both parties agree to a suitable date. If a patient wants to reschedule, the physician has to uncheck a particular date and hope another patient will call and fill it on short notice.
A telemedicine platform simplifies the process significantly. Instead of having physicians do the scheduling, you can let patients do it.
Here’s how it works:
- A patient checks their physician’s available time slots on our platform
- They choose one that suits them
- They can uncheck the first date and choose another one if they want to reschedule
With a telemedicine online scheduling feature, physicians don’t have to bother with setting up appointments, and patients don’t have to spend hours on the phone trying to reach their physicians.
Send Smart Reminders to Patients
Many patients often tend to miss their scheduled appointments. It’s a common occurrence that costs healthcare providers dearly. Studies show that the U.S. healthcare system loses over $150 billion every year due to patient no-shows.
A telemedicine solution such as text appointment reminders feature should be able to remind patients about scheduled virtual and in-person appointments. You can send patients multiple reminders and customize them for different appointments via secure SMS.
Manage Your Virtual Waiting Rooms
Patient virtual appointments are more difficult to manage than their in-person counterparts. If a patient walks into the clinic, they’ll go to the front desk to provide their health and contact data before moving on to their physician’s office.
Embrace all of the possibilities of telemedicine by integrating Curogram with CareCloud.
Curogram is a fully HIPAA-compliant telemedicine solution that offers effortless integration and a diverse set of telemedicine features such as secure 2-way text messaging, automated appointment reminders, online survey requests, and reputation management that will revolutionize the way you provide medical care to patients.
Telemedicine integration is seldom a straightforward process. It can take anywhere between six and nine months for most telemedicine software to connect with a clinic’s EHR. But Curogram integrates with CareCloud in a couple of days, or any other EHRs that are app-based, cloud-based, server-based, or web-browser-based. Plus, no IT expertise is required to integrate our platform with CareCloud, meaning you won’t have to search for an IT professional and spend thousands of dollars.
Also, Curogram’s user interface is simple and easy to use. your staff won’t need more than half an hour to learn how to use the software to its fullest potential. Schedule a free demo with Curogram to learn about telemedicine features that will bring in more patients and skyrocket your practice’s revenue.